January-February 2011

An Upside-Down Winter: The 2009–2010 Snow Report

by David A. Robinson

The 2009–2010 snow season will long be remembered as one with unusual patterns of snowfall and snow cover across the United States. February snows were several feet deep in the Mid-Atlantic states while, simultaneously, bare ground was exposed in the Champlain Valley of New York and Vermont. Heavy October snows fell from the Plains to the Northeast, while Fairbanks, Alaska, waited until October 26th to receive its first inch-plus snowfall. As reported in Weatherwise each year since 1955, here is a month-by-month summary of notable snow events, totals, and oddities from this topsy-turvy season.

DAVID A. ROBINSON is chairman of the Department of Geography at Rutgers University and the New Jersey State Climatologist. He would like to thank colleagues in a number of state climate offices, regional climate centers, the National Climatic Data Center, National Weather Service offices, and especially Mathieu Gerbush, Jacob Carlin, Tom Estilow, and Gina Henderson at Rutgers University for assisting with information gathering.